A Child for the Reich ("for" stands out to me) is a beautiful, harrowing, engrossing, haunting and emotive Historical Fiction story based on a true WWII story in then Czechoslovakia. Two sisters Anna and Das lived with their mother with their young children. Their husbands felt compelled to fight with the Resistance, leaving their wives and children behind to fend for themselves. The women all had to earn a living. Who could they confide in and trust during a time when neighbours turned in neighbours? Every knock on the door induced panic.

Daily life became more and more dangerous as Germans occupied and took over nearly everything as they believed they were the superior race. Everyone else was subject to strict rules regarding running markets, food, belongings and land. Blond-haired blue-eyed children were literally snatched away from their heartsick mothers and whisked to special orphanages to be conditioned as Germans and then placed into German homes. The dreaded Brown Sisters were nurses who believed in Germanizing children which meant children had to adhere to strict rules, too, as did their caregivers. When the inconceivable happened to Anna, she quickly decides she must act. And act she did. Her acting abilities were life saving. So was her compassion she only showed when backs were turned. Many women were happy to act in the best interests of the Reich and adored the Führer so much they did anything for him and the cause.

The descriptions are absolutely breathtaking and evoked anger, fear and sadness in my heart. What the women endured is unbearable. And what makes it even worse is knowing the Lebensborn program was very real. Author Andie Newton is wonderfully skilled at including details many wouldn't think of such as the coal story, plants in gardens and food eaten in the orphanages. I became invested from the first sentence and was practically had to remind myself to breathe. It is truly an exceptional book.

If you are a passionate Historical Fiction reader, this is unmissable. If you are new to Historical Fiction, there is no better book to start with. Be prepared for an emotional rollercoaster!

My sincere thank you to HarperCollins UK, One More Chapter and NetGalley for the privilege of enjoying this heart-stopping book. It would be incredible to read a sequel...one can always hope!

I received a copy of "A Child for the Reich" by Andie Newton from Net Galley for an honest review. The book takes place during the Holocaust. Anna is a Czechoslovakian. Her family can pass as a German with their blonde hair and Aryan looks. They don't want to look German because it is dangerous for them. It is well known that a family known as "The Brown sisters' steal babies and young children to hide them away and prepare the stolen kids to be adopted into German families. This threat becomes real when Anna's family is targeted. Now her small daughter is taken. Anna has to find a way to get her daughter back. She disguises herself as a German woman with fake documents and gets a job working at an orphanage where she hopes her daughter may have been taken. She can speak German so she needs to find the way to save her daughter and other children. This book although one of fiction is based on real life events that happened during the Holocaust. I found this to be a well written book that had me turning the pages.

Based on fact, this moving story brought me to tears. The tension oozed from the pages. It took me a while to get fully into the story., but well worth getting through the start.

I enjoy reading stories about various aspects of WWII and definitely have learned so much about things I would have never even imagined. Such is the case with this story I was not aware that part of the Reich was assigned to seeking out and increasing the number of blonde haired, blue eyed children to make a new Arian race to carry on a new "Germany" Unbelievable! I found the book a bit slow moving and it took me some motivation to keep reading. By the last page, I was glad that I did.

Story of a woman whose little girl is stolen by the Germans, and who fights to try to find her. Her daughter is what the Germans want to form the perfect race. They will take the child and see that she is adopted by the right family.

I do enjoy reading books based around WWII, I often find there are things that I was not aware of. A Child for the Reich is one such book. There was a branch of the Reich that was responsible for collecting babies and children with the much sort after blue eyes and blond hair. This was seen as the perfect Arian child. If you were not German and you had the perfect baby or child then they would be taken, re-educated and then given to "Good German Families" to raise. In Poland, 200,000 children were removed by the NSV, these are the female version of the dreaded SS, these women were known as the "Brown Sisters".

I had no idea about this practice so when I saw the synopsis for this book I knew I had to read it. After reading it I then had an internet search and discovered a few more horrifying facts about these kidnappings and what happened to those children afterwards.

The story is mainly about a Czech mother, Anna, she has no idea that her child is on a list to be taken until it happens. What follows is how Anna managed to discover where her daughter was taken and see how children were 'Germanised'. This story is one of a mother's heartbreak and determination while trying to avoid being discovered herself.

The story shows how the people of Czechoslovakia are being affected by the Germans taking over it country, their houses, businesses and it seems their families. The threat of being seen and reported is real and there is tension on the page as the author took Anna on her journey.

The regime in place for the children is awful and heartbreaking to read about as is the obvious struggle and pain of having your child stolen. This is not an easy read given the subject but my goodness it is one that I just could not leave alone. It wasn't until I started to write this review that I realised it was 400 pages, I flew through this book in one sitting.

The author brings a horrifying and awful practice of taking children to be representative of Hitler's vision of his Aryan race. Saying that I enjoyed reading this book feels wrong, but I did.

If you like your historical fiction set in Europe during WWII then this is one that should be on your reading list. It is a poignant and eye-opening read and it is one I would definitely recommend.

This was an utterly riveting book that I read it in one very short sitting, I just couldn't put it down. It was well written with well developed characters and some moments that were utterly heartbreaking. A fantastic read.

A Child for the Reich was a truly heart-breaking book to read! I was so engrossed, I read the book within a matter of hours. It was intriguing to read a story based on the implications and impact of the Brown Sisters, in previous books I have read they have been briefly mentioned, however A Child for the Reich shows how a family can go from being terrified of being caught to risking their lives to save their children.

In essence, this was a lovely book to read that had a good pace throughout.

A child for the Reich by Andie Newton is a fictional story based on true facts. About the WW11 Lebensborn programme. Where Nazi’s snatched over 200,000 blonde, blue eyed children from neighbouring countries, some from orphanages, but some from the arms of their mothers and brought them up as Aryan children and adopted by German families. They also had a breeding programme to make the ‘perfect’ child.
Anna Dankova, her daughter Ema and her sister Dasa and her four children live in occupied Prague. Her husband Josef left and joined the resistance over three years ago. She vows to keep her daughter safe from the brown sisters who work for the Reich. Who searches the towns and cities looking for blond and blue-eyed children.
One market day Anna’s daughter Ema is taken. She is distraught. The one actress goes undercover to find out where her daughter is and snitch her back. She will go any lengths to do this. So, when she finds out that her daughter has been taken to a nearby orphanage. She gets her documents changed and pretend to be a German and applies to be a Nurse at the orphanage, to be close to her daughter. How hard can it be? She has acted many times before.
Thank you Harper Collins One more chapter for ARC of this book. This is a harrowing and emotional account of what went on regarding children under the Reich. I have never heard of the Lebensborn programme, and I can imagine what not only the children where subject to but, the mothers losing their children. This is a great page turner and I highly recommend. 5 stars from me,

This is a really emotion story and it’s based on true historical facts which made it harder for me to read. It’s about children being taken and used. But when Ema is taken one moms will go to the extreme and risk a lot to get her back.
Thank you @ netgalley for letting me read this

Moving story about how the Reich stole thousands of children for their own purposes. Brown sisters were sent out to take blond hair, blue eyed children as part of the Lebensborn program. When Anna's daughter is taken, how far will she go and what will she do to get her back? Heartbreaking story. Recommended!

This was an unbelievable story based on real happenings. The Nazis were guilty of many crimes but stealing babies and children seems like the worst. This was a well written story and the characters seemed real. The ending was a closureof sorts but a generation of children were harmed by what happened to them.

A very upsetting and emotional read showing the courage of a young mother Anna a Czech following the path of her stolen child during the horrors of WW11. The Brown Sisters who were female nurses working for the Nazi Welfare Organisation who searched through towns and villages stealing blond blue eyed children to be given up for adoption by Germans.
Throughout the read my spirits lifted only to have them to dip just as quickly. Anna’s hopes were raised constantly and you cannot help but feel her emotions when reading this. Whilst planning her escape with her daughter whilst working at the children’s home where Ema is being held Anna discovers her sister’s baby has also been brought to the same home. She then needed to include him in her plans for their escape.
These are incomprehensible situations to understand if you have not lived through the times where this happened.

Anna Dankova's husband Joseph joined the Czech resistance three years ago and the former accountant felt it was his duty and he told his wife “war comes to all of us.” The newlyweds fled Prague to hide in the countryside and they purchased a farm near the village of Tabor. Anna lives next door to her sister Dasa and her mother Matka.

Anna has a daughter Ema, and Dasa has three daughters and a newborn baby boy. Rumors are rife in the area, the Third Reich are stealing children with Aryan features from nearby villages, they send out the Brown Sisters to seize them and the children are taken to secret nurseries. Anna sells her produce and herbs at the local market, when Ema is taken by a Brown Sister, and Anna is determined to find her daughter and nothing is going to stop her. Anna contacts in the resistance help her travel to Dresden and she uses her acting skills to gain employment at the nursery where Ema is living

Anna’s shocked by what she witnesses here, the nurses use methods from the book written by Johnna Haarer, to care for the children, raising them to serve the Fuhrer and the adoptive parents are given a copy. The children are told all sorts of lies, Ema thinks Anna stole her from her real parents and she’s confused and traumatized by what’s happened to her.

I received a digital copy of A Child for the Reich by Andie Newton from NetGalley and HarperCollins UK in exchange for an honest review. Children were stolen from Poland and other ethnic countries as part of the Lebensborn program and they estimate over 200,000 children were taken between 1939 to 1945. Any child with blond hair and blue eyes was a target and could possibly be Germanised, Ms. Newton narrative gives you a firsthand account of mother’s anguish when this happens to her daughter, the lengths she will go and the risks she will take to get her back. A heartbreaking and informative story about a terrible time history and four stars from me.

This is an emotional read, showing a lesser-known horror of WWII. While it started out a bit slow, the pace picked up, and it became difficult to put the book aside. Throughout it all, there is a theme of hope that shines through the darkness. I've read a number of books in this genre, but none of them focused on the Brown Sisters. It definitely added a unique angle to the storyline. You can't help but root for Anna! If you're a fan of historical novels, this is one to check out.

'A Child for the Reich' is a story of the WWII Lebensborn programme, a mother's love, courage, and acts of resistance. Although less publicized, it is thought that the Reich, through their Lebensborn scheme, snatched upwards of 200,000 children from occupied countries, to be adopted and raised as perfect Aryans by German families. Tandem to this, the Reich also initiated their own Aryan 'breeding' project.

Anna lives in occupied Czechoslovakia with her sister and mother. Already fighting for subsistence, for themselves and their children, after their husbands leave to join the resistance, a rumour circulates that the Brown Sisters are in town scouring for blonde, blue-eyed children to kidnap. Panicked, the sisters attempt to hide their children. However, one slip-up and Ema, Anna's daughter, is ripped from her arms. 'War comes to us all', and Anna prepares to fight back by joining the very programme she detests.

Andie Newton is a new author to me and I was impressed by this book. Like all good wartime and covert operations, there was plenty of mystery and suspense to keep the pages turning. That said, Newton is careful to overlay a sense of context and humanity so the reader gains a strong sense of just what living in an occupied country meant. I will definitely be looking for Newton's other novels!

Thank you to NetGalley and Harper UK One More Chapter for the opportunity to read and review this book.

If you are a fan of the WW II genre, this book will be right up your alley. A Child for the Reich details yet another chapter in the Nazis despicable plan for the perfect Aryan race.

Rumors run rampant that the government of Nazi Germany was taking babies and children from their parents in those countries where they had invaded. In Czechoslovakia these rumors came true when the Brown Sisters came for Ema, the daughter of former Czech actress Anna Dankova. Alone since her husband has joined the Resistance, Anna vows to get her daughter back.

A heart rendering story about this little known fact of the Nazi takeover, well researched and documented as only historical fiction writer Andie Newton can do. Hard to put down.

Thanks to NetGalley for the opportunity to read this book pre-publication.

I loved The Girls from the Beach, so I was excited to read this. Enjoyed it, but at times the story didn't always feel believable. Everything Anna did at the nursery was extremely suspicious. She just showed up out of the blue for the job and her her story definitely had holes. Did Anna think she could just grab Ema and leave without anyone seeing them? It's horrifying how so many children were ripped away from their parents, just to be "adopted" by German families. The children weren't shown any love by the nurses and were mistreated. Matka was one of my favorite characters. She didn't hold anything back. My least favorite part of the book was the ending. I wanted to know what happened to Matka and Dasa while Anna was trying to save Ema. How did the baby end up at the nursery? Anna gets home and it just ends.

Definitely recommend the book. Enjoyed the characters, story and writing style. Look forward to reading more books by the author.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from HarperCollins UK, One More Chapter, through NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

Anna’s Czech family has faced increasing hostility from the Germans as the war continues, and in 1944, her daughter is ripped from her arms and taken to be indoctrinated as an Aryan child, then adopted by a German family. Anna leaves her home and finds the place where Ema is being kept. She becomes a nurse for the children, as she works to spirit away her child and return her to her rightful family. But will it be too late for Anna and Ema? Will Anna succeed—without getting caught, and before Ema is brainwashed into believing Anna is not her true mother?

What an emotional read this book was! I’ve heard of the Lebensborn program and about the Nazi practice of stealing children who looked Aryan, and in her book, Newton really brings this despicable process to light through the experiences of her heroine, Anna. As gut-wrenching as this book was to read, I highly recommend it to learn more about what many mothers in the German-occupied nations experienced. Historians have estimated that over 200,000 children were stolen from their parents by Nazi Germany. 200,000. Can any of us even comprehend that? Learning about the actions by Nazi Germany should be required for all citizens. This is definitely a worthwhile read.

Anna lives with her mother, sister and their children in Nazi-occupied Prague while their husbands are away with the Resistance. They live in fear of the Brown Sisters, who scour towns in Nazi-occupied lands for Aryan-looking children to steal and send to Germany to be raised by German families. Anna's daughter Ema is snatched away from her in the marketplace and Anna makes the tough choice to move to Dresden to be employed in one of the nurseries where children are kept before being parceled out to German families. Anna comes across her sister's son, who has also been stolen, and must exercise cunning and strength to save their children. A fascinating and emotional account of a mother's love, courage and bravery in unthinkable circumstances.